Ashes
by whydoineedapenname911
Summary: What if Noble 6 had survived the fall of Reach? This is a Halo-Mass Effect Crossover. This is my first attempt at a fan fic so please review! I do not own the rights to Halo or Mass Effect, they are the property of Bugie and Bioware respectively.
1. Chapter 1

**Ashes Chapter One**

**What if Noble 6 had survived the fall of Reach? This is a Halo-Mass Effect Crossover. This is my first attempt at a fan fic so please review! I do not own the rights to Halo or Mass Effect, they are the property of Bugie and Bioware respectively. Yes my Noble 6 is female, and yes the first few chapters will focus heavily on the closing events of Halo: Reach. Mass Effect probably won't come into play until around chapter 3 or 4. I hope you enjoy and once again, please review!**

Reach, September 7th, 2552

Reach has fallen. Millions of smouldering corpses fill the planet surface, riddled with plasma burns and covenant boot prints alike. It is mind boggling how this great fortress of man was wiped clean in little over a month. The UNSC forces could do little against the mighty armada that came down on top of them.

All who once called Reach home are either dead, or escaped on the mighty warships of the UNSC. All humans left on the planet have been abandoned. They have no protection and are fighting for their very lives against the alien invaders. It's not like it will make any difference. The Covenant will bombard the planet from orbit, turning the planet surface to glass.

So what is to become of the survivors? Are they to abandon hope? To flee from the Covenant, only to delay their inevitable fate?

No…..

Instead, Why not strike back at the invaders? Deliver one final blow of defiance before death claims all of us? They would regret attacking Reach. They would regret making humanity their enemy…..

Noble 6 was weary. She knew her fate, and was prepared to fight to the death. With no rescue in sight, or any hope of survival, she only has one thought on her mind….

'Take as many of the bastards out with me'

She stood atop a landing pad with several grounded turrets overlooking a wrecked town. 'The perfect place to make my stand' she thought to herself. Several bodies, Human and Covenant, riddled the damaged buildings and the deserted streets. It had seemed 6 was not the only person to make a stand here.

She quickly ran an ammo check; she had three magazines for her DMR rifle, two clips for her pistol and four frag grenades. This put doubts in her mind, she would not last long with such limited equipment. The only bright news was the turrets. There were three of them, each with about 100 rounds. 'These will punch some holes in their ranks' she remarked to herself.

Then there was silence. The calm before the storm as it would seem. Noble 6 dropped to her knees and closed her eyes, remembering all that had happened in the past month. She could see the look on Jeorge's face when he threw her off the Covenant Corvette, knowing he was going to die. She could see the sniper round penetrate Kat's skull, and she could remember seeing her eyes roll back threw her visor as death claimed her. She remembered Carters noble sacrifice to clear the path for her and Emile. She remembered all of the sacrifices her fellow Spartans had to make. They would not have been in vain….

Then, interrupting the silence, a ball of plasma blew past Noble 6, a near miss. 'Show time' she thought out loud.

She immediately jumped to her feet, ripping one of the turrets from its stand. She quickly scouted the area, looking for the hostiles. She spotted seven grunts with no elite; it seemed to be a scouting party. Six just chuckled to herself as the barrel of the turret began to spin. Then suddenly, armour piercing rounds burst out boring into the small group of grunts. They were shredded to ribbons in no time at all.

Then a bright purple flash of light appeared from the far left side, Six felt it impact her shield, but no extensive damage. It was a sniper shot, likely from a carbine. The Spartan quickly turned around to face the attacker; he was in a wrecked building about 150 feet away. Six unloaded on the position, pumping ammunition at the sniper several hundred rounds per minute. The creature leapt for the closest cover, only to have it explode around him. Six surveyed the building for any sign of life, but she knew the creature was finished when a dark blue pool of blood leaked from its cover.

Then, a covenant drop pod fell from the sky behind her, she had to move fast. Six rushed down the ramp and took cover inside the nearest demolished building. The Spartan placed the turret over a small section of broken down wall, and prepared for whatever was to come out of that drop pod. She let out a somewhat nervous sigh, and then she regained her cool. Watching the drop pod like a stray dog watching its next feast, she began to rotate the barrel of her behemoth of a weapon.

The pod door let out a hiss, then swung open. Ten Elites stormed out of the pod in combat formation. Six's turret lit up, dismembering the closest elite and threw another to the floor, maimed and left to bleed out. The remaining elites dashed for the nearest cover as the lone Spartan laid down a suppressing fire. The maimed elite called for his allies for help, Six decided to take advantage of this. She stopped shooting, only for a moment, until one of his fellow elites was foolish enough to attempt a rescue. He lasted about as long as it takes to fire ten rounds from the turret. That moment on, it was a Mexican standoff. Six was taking heavy Carbine fire from the steadily advancing elite strike team, while they were all but pinned down from the waves of turret fire. They were good; they learned from their mistakes and were excellent shots. Six had a number of close calls; the turret was her saving grace at this point. They were not the covenants B-Team that was certain.

Then the worst came to pass, the mist of turret fire suddenly came to a halt. She was out of turret ammo. The Elites realised this and stormed from cover, attempting to rush the helpless Spartan. Six still had a few tricks up her sleeve; she pulled out her DMR rifle and whipped out of cover. The elites had thought her defenseless and exposed themselves from cover, a fatal mistake. Six unloaded three shots in two elites, killing them both.

Caring little for their own safety, the remaining five elites drew their energy swords and continued to advance. Six managed to drop one more elite before they stormed her building. She knew she could not hold them without superior ground, so she fled to the top story of the building. She took cover behind the corner at the top of the stairs, watching the base floor. A shadow of an elite zealot emerged, six tossed a frag grenade. She ducked her head to shield herself from the blast, all she could hear then was screaming in an alien dialect, then an explosion.

All was quiet. Had she slain her pursuers? Or are they leading her into a trap? Six slowly proceeded down the stairs, DMR at the ready. She peeked around the corner cautiously. She saw two dead elites and one wounded, but where was the last one? At that moment, the flash of an energy sword swung past the Spartan, barely missing her Recon helmet. The Zealot tackled six, tossing her DMR across the room. The Elite raised his energy sword, preparing to swing at the downed super soldier, but Six's reflexes were far superior. She grabbed her pistol and unloaded two rounds into the elite. Unfortunately the rounds did not pierce his shields and merely threw the creature back. It did however; provide her with the necessary time to return to her feet. Six was just about to let off a few more rounds when something caught her eye; a giant ball of plasma was rocketing toward their position!

She hurled herself from the building and covered her head; the Zealot caught on quickly and did the same. The building collapsed, turning into nothing more that rubble. Six felt numb, her ears were ringing wildly and she could barely tell where she was at the moment. She felt unbearable pain in her chest, but the feeling was all too familiar to her. She knew she had at least three broken ribs. Pure adrenaline was the only thing keeping her from passing out from the pain. She turned her body over to see the Zealot standing over her, sword in hand, ready to strike. Was this how it was going to end? She knew from the get-go that she would not be leaving this place with her life, but to give up all hope like this was just insulting. She couldn't die like this…She wouldn't.

It took every ounce of her strength, but Six smashed the beast with a left haymaker, ripping off his helmet. She reached for her pistol, but it was nowhere to be found, so she picked up the nearest jagged rock and jammed it into the aliens skull, causing instant death.

Darkness consumed her; she could barely keep her eyes open. Her vision began to fade; all of her senses began to fail her. Then another elite (this one appeared to be wounded) limped towards six, with anger in his eyes. He pointed his carbine at Six's temple and began mumbling in an alien language. Six had already made peace with death; she had taken more than her fair share of lives. It was time to end this.

The lone Spartan closed her eyes and waited for salvation. Everything went quiet, save for one gunshot that cut the silence. Six gasped, she had felt no pain. She opened her eyes and to her shock, saw the elite dead on the ground. Her vision blurred, but she could see three human shaped figures approach her.

'Secure the Spartan, prepare her for transport' a strong male voice ordered his fellows.

**So yeah, that was the first chapter, I wanted the elite strike team to pose a serious threat to Six and I think I accomplished that. I am about half way finished writing Chapter 2, but I may not be able to upload it until this weekend because RL comes first. Remember this is my first attempt at a fan fic, so please review! Tell me what you would like to see happen next, what I am doing right and what I need to change.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Ashes Chapter 2**

**Okay sorry this update is a little late, I just got Fallout: New Vegas this weekend and it has basically taken over my life lately ha ha. So anyways this chapter will also focus heavily on Halo, sorry ME fan boys. Shepard and co probably won't show up until next chapter. I have received a few questions over the week; I will try to answer them without giving too much away. Shepard will be Male in this story, Zaeed and Kasumi will both have roles in the story as well. As for Noble Six's armour, I am modeling her off of my own Spartan (as well as adding some more personalized additions). Her armour is mostly red with a few white stripe details, she has the Recon helmet, knee guards, the wrist computer, the grenade belt chest piece (forgot the name) and for shoulders her left is Similar to Carter's shoulder piece while her right is the default. She also has the shoulder mounted Tac knife. Finally her emblem is the ancient Spartan Helmet with the radioactive symbol in the background. Anyways I probably shouldn't say anymore, so without further ado… **

Reach, September 9th 2552…

Six began to regain consciousness, her vision was very blurry and her ribs felt like a Covenant energy sword was lodged into them. She tried to move but she couldn't, her arms and legs were restrained to a lab table. 'What was going on?' she thought to herself. Something was wrong, the last thing she remembered was a wounded elite standing over her, and then she passed out. She looked down, to her surprise she was not in her armour; she was wearing what looked like a hospital robe. This was no hospital however, the layout seemed strange. She saw racks of medical equipment lining the wall, a single empty stasis pod on the opposite side. A drop of water fell onto her nose so she looked up. Stalactites lined the roof. A man in a lab coat entered the room.

'So I see you're finally awake Spartan' he said

'Who are you? Where am I?' She replied

'I am Doctor Michael Zimmer, and you are 5000 feet underground'

'Wait, what? How did I get here? Why am I restrained?' she said in panic. The doctor gave her a cold stare. He almost seemed annoyed by her question.

'I will be asking the questions here Spartan, you will speak when spoken too' he stated. Six was confused, this was no UNSC medic, was she even on Reach? Questions raced through her mind. Then it hit her like a ton of bricks. Rebels; she had to get out of there now. Six tried to break free.

'I wouldn't do that if I were you Spartan' the doctor pushed a button on his watch. An intense pain engulfed six, she cried out in pain. It felt like she was taking about seven cattle prods to her ribs.

'What the hell did you do to me?' Six asked impatiently.

'You see Spartan; you are a very valuable commodity. We cannot have you escape on us now can we? While we were fixing you're broken ribs we added a "leash" if you will. You are basically my puppet.'

Six became enraged

'What do you want with me you prick?' she barked.

'Now now, that is hardly the right way to speak to your new master isn't it? The fall of Reach was a blessing, It was nearly impossible to capture one of you, but this catastrophe all but handed you over to us. You are the last of your kind Spartan; all of your fellows have been slaughtered by the covenant. "The last Spartan", seems almost poetic to me'

'I will never fight for you!' She snapped fiercely. Once again a short wave of pain flushed through her, she screamed in agony.

'Ah but you do not have a choice, you will do our bidding eventually, slay our enemies, wipe out our rival rebel groups, oh yes you will make me quite the wealthy man. You will fight for me, either willingly; or we might have to implant that pretty little head of yours.'

Six simply turned her head away from the man.

'I'll take that as a no then? Such a shame, I was hoping I wouldn't have to get messy. Prepare for a rather painful surgery' the doctor said with smug. The Spartan just gave him a cold stare. Two armed guards entered the room; they both held standard UNSC issued Assault rifles, though they looked worn and out-dated.

"You two, guard the subject, she is not to even twitch under your watch. I must grab some supplies for the upcoming implantation. Be warned, even unarmed she is highly dangerous.'

One of the soldiers just chuckled.

'With all due respect Doctor, I think the two of us are rather qualified to handle one un-armed and restrained prisoner while you leave to fetch the implants.' The doctor just gave the man a cold stare then left the room, the door hissing shut behind him. The two Rebels just stood there ogling the restrained woman, cracking the frequent joke and sexual slur while doing so. Six mostly ignored this, her mind raced around how she was to escape. Then suddenly she knew, both of these idiots looked extremely dimwitted. She looked at the one on the left.

'Hey you, soldier.' She said softly.

'Oi! What the hell do you want?' he quickly snapped back.

'You look like a smart lad, I would like to talk to you for a moment' she replied. The soldier began to approach her when the second one stopped him.

'Wait, Doc told us not to approach her..'

'Come on mate, were armed, she's not, she's restrained were not, there are two of us and one of her. I think we got this.' The rebel continued to approach the imprisoned Spartan.

'Make it quick wench!' he snapped.

'You seem like a business man to me, so how about we strike a deal?'

'There's only one kind of deal were interested in sweetie' he said with a shit-eating grin on his face. Six was hardly surprised at the answer, those pigs. Like it or not, this was her ticket out of here.

'You know, once your doctor implants me I may not have the willpower to do so, so how about a kiss then?' she said seductively.

The Idiotic rebel just looked at his fellow with a sense of satisfaction then leaned over six. Now was her chance. She mustered all of her strength and ripped the locks right off of the table, freeing her arms. The rebels seemed to underestimate her raw power, a Spartan can flip a downed warthog with their bare hands after all. She used her superior strength and speed to grab the assault rifle from the rebel and smashed him with the butt end of the rifle. The man flew a good two meters before hitting the ground. The second Rebel realised what had just occurred and raised his rifle, ready to shoot her. Six's reflexes were well beyond his, she squeezed out two rounds into his chest followed by a clean shot to the head. She then aimed the rifle at the downed rebel, she tried to pull the trigger but nothing happened. "A gun jam? You piece of junk not now!" she thought to herself. The rebel got back up to his feet with blood pouring furiously from his nose.

'You cocky bitch!' The man was furious. He pulled out a large knife and slowly approached the Spartan.

'You broke my fucking nose! I'm going to make you bleed!' The enraged man raised his knife, ready to plunge it into the Spartan. Six quickly jolted upright and snapped the man's neck; his corpse fell on top of her. She grabbed the knife from him then shoved his body to the floor. Her feet were still restrained; these locks were a lot tougher to break than the ones restraining her hands. She tried to wedge it open with the knife when she heard rushed footsteps coming her way.

'Oh no' she sighed.

The doctor entered the room in quite the hurry.

'I heard gunfire, what is the meaning…' He stopped when he saw the Spartan upright, and both of the guards dead. He tried to reach the button on his watch to shock her, but he suddenly felt agony. Six had chucked the knife at him, burying it deep into his chest. His body knocked against the wall and hit the alarm system. Six let out an annoyed groan.

'For the love of god!' she yelled.

The loud roar of the alarm engulfed the room, six had little time. She Grabbed the restrains and pulled with all of her might, she was still weaker than usual, she had just regained consciousness and who knows what drugs she was injected with. Finally the restraints gave in, she was free! The Spartan had to act fast or she would be swarmed by guards. She rushed over to the other dead rebel to grab his weapon, but it seems one of the rounds she shot penetrated the rifle, it was all but useless.

'Give me a break!'

Six was now extremely frustrated, she was drowsy, her ribs still hurt, and now she had to escape this place against who knows how many guards and on top of that she had no weapon. Suddenly she heard the lab door hiss open, she spun around to meet the intruder. It was a single man in a lab coat; he had a pistol aimed for six. Six just sighed in relief, "finally" she thought to herself. She grabbed a glass tube from the wall and smashed it against his head. The wan was now extremely disoriented and was screaming in pain. Six let out a roundhouse kick that knocked the gun into the air and the man to the floor. She caught the pistol out of the air and aimed it at the would be attacker.

`Thanks for the gun chum`. She chuckled.

Six let out a quick round into the man's head and left the room. To her surprise and frustration, there was a shiny new gun rack just outside the door.

`Really now? That simple? Sigh…' She dropped the pistol and grabbed a DMR off of the wall as well as two frag grenades.

She did a quick ammo check and ran her hand threw her short blonde hair.

'Time for me to leave then'

**Sorry for the Major delay, I re-wrote this chapter about five times, all of the other drafts just seemed too rushed or had huge plot holes. This Chapter Originally had all of Six's heroic escape in it, but it was just too damn long! All I know is that next chapter will be nearly twice as long, so you guys will need to be patient. Next chapter will not only have the rest of Noble 6's escape in in, but it will also have an appearance of one commander who needs no introduction ;).**

**All in all I am satisfied with this chapter. Please review btw, IMO bad feedback is better than no feedback at all. I will get next chapter up ASAP, but RL comes first so it could be a little bit. It will be worth the wait I assure you.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Ashes Chapter 3**

**Hello again, this was my favourite chapter to write so far. This chapter is almost twice as long as the first two and I was really excited to upload this one. Thanks for all of the feedback! I decided to add a shameless self-insert in this chapter, well not really. We share the same name, but other than that we have absolutely no resemblance, so it's not REALLY a self-insert. So without further ado…**

Reach, September 9th 2552…

Six raised her DMR rifle and slowly walked down the narrow corridor outside the lab. She had to find her armour, find out where she was then get out of there. The alarm was still flaring out of control; she would be swarmed if she didn't move fast. Six came up to a 'T' intersection at the end of the hallway, she was about to poke her head out to look both directions when she heard a rabble of footsteps. Six backed up and took cover behind a heavy metal crate, DMR at the ready. Six's aim was steady, a single bead of sweat trickled down her neck. She had no idea how many guards were approaching, let alone how many were patrolling the base. Then, without warning, four guards stormed around the corner. They stormed in combat formation, shouting orders with their assault rifles ready. Six launched her upper body from cover and took aim. The Rebels did not shoot right away; it was obvious they wanted her alive. They would not shoot unless fired on, six was happy to oblige. It only took four quick trigger pulls to drop them all. The four rebels lined the floor, but one was still moving. He looked over to the left corner.

'I need a medic, get over here!' He plead

Idiot, he just gave away the fact that there were more guards around the corner. Six waited about ten seconds, and then one more rebel popped around the corner. He instantly fired his DMR; the bullet skimmed the side of six's face. She felt the pain and instantly dropped behind cover. For a moment six had forgotten she was not in her armour; that was too close. It seemed like the guard thought he had killed the Spartan.

'I got her! I killed the Spartan! Check it out!' The rebel shouted in complete disbelief. Three more Rebels rushed around the corner all cheering and patting him on the back.

'Let's go claim the body' one of the men said. Six had to act quickly; she could not take out four soldiers with no cover and no armour. She could hear the footsteps getting closer and hitting the metal grating floor. Without even thinking, she whipped out one of her two frag grenades, pulled the pin and gently tossed it over the corner and ducked down, knowing very well if any shrapnel blew through the box she would not be protected.

'Look out, Grenade!' A man shouted in panic.

Less than two seconds later a loud bang engulfed Six's ears, she could feel the heat of the flames on the back of her neck. Many loud pinging sounds filled the room from the shrapnel. Finally the noise and heat died down, six lifted herself up to check out the damage. Four rebels died in the blast, but the wounded rebel seemed to survive the explosion. Six angrily approached the downed rebel and lifted him by the collar. She slammed him hard into the wall, but not too hard; he was no good to her dead.

'Alright dirt bag, I need answers NOW!' Six barked. The Rebel remained silent, obviously in great pain. Six glared at the man, her light blue eyes flaring. The Rebel couldn't help but look away. Six just grabbed his chin with her second hand and turned his head towards her.

'You really shouldn't ignore me; your life depends on how well you cooperate with me.' She said calmly, but firmly. The man's eyes began to tear up, he was extremely frightened.

'I...I…I'll tell you what you need to know' the man stuttered.

'That's better' six said casually. She dropped the man to the ground, he yelped in pain. His leg was bleeding really badly.

'First of all, where the hell am I?' she asked.

'Y…you are in the Hurlikas desert, w…we built this base when the covenant showed up to Reach, we knew we wouldn't be able to hold. Hurlikas isn't a very populated region, only a few thousand settled here, we thought "the covenant wouldn't waste manpower invading over a few thousand settlers" and we were right. All we had to worry about was the fact that they planned on glassing the whole goddamn planet, that's why we're this far underground. To be completely honest, we aren't really a proper rebel group. We are just a bunch of former UNSC troops who ditched the whole operation once the damn covenant showed up.'

Six pondered for a moment. She knew that Reach would get glassed, but somehow hearing the reality of it was still quite the shock. The man continued to speak.

'I know you probably want to know why we captured you. When we heard the UNSC were getting their asses kicked, we sent out several squads out to find a Spartan. We figured, with the UNSC scattered all to hell we could find a stray Spartan and capture him, this proved more difficult than we originally planned. If we could capture a Spartan and force him to fight for us, nobody would stand against us. Not the Covenant, not the UNSC, nobody. I was part of the team that found you, when we saw you passed out… You were just too perfect to pass up.'

Six was still in shock. She just stared at the man for a moment. The Spartan finally collected herself.

'Where are they keeping my armour?' she said with a relaxed tone.

'Over in the Laboratory, just down the stairs to your left.' He replied. Six grabbed the man by the neck and lifted him again. Her eyes blazed at his as she brought her face closer to his.

'Don't make me regret sparing your life.' She firmly stated.

'Yeah, you won't have to worry about that' He spat out quickly. Six just dropped him back to the floor.

Six raised her DMR and proceeded left of the "T" intersection, she came up to a flight of stairs. Cautiously she crept down the stairs, checking the dark corners, fully prepared for an ambush. She went down two floors before she hit the bottom. This floor was vastly different, the walls were still aligned with pipes, but the floors were not covered by grating. The hallway stretched forward about twenty metres; at the end was a single door. "That must be the lab" Six thought to herself. She slowly approached the solitary door, ready for any guards that may come out guns blazing. This door was not automatic, it was traditional. For some odd reason this struck her as strange. She wrapped her hand around the nob, it was quite cold. Six gently turned the nob and creaked the door open slowly; her DMR poking through the door. The walls were lined with lockers and the room was full of multiply lab tables. She quickly snapped to her left. To her dismay, a man in a lab coat was standing right there, shotgun in hand. The man quickly realised the intruder's presence and raised his shotgun.

'Hey! You! Get down on the ground!' The man barked.

Six leaped behind the nearest lab table. The man let out a few shells, but six did not get hit. She heard the loud "PINGS" of the pellets impacting the lab table. The Spartan could tell the man was moving closer, probably trying to flank her. She had no choice; she would have to go for it. Six dove out of cover, DMR at the ready. The Rebel was standing near a set of bars lining that section of the wall, six had him in her sights. She was about to pull the trigger when something interesting happened.

A pair of arms came out from behind the bars and snared the man from behind. With a rather unpleasant sound of snapping cartilage and bone, the Rebel's neck gave way. He fell to the floor a corpse. The arms reached out again and grabbed the man's shotgun; they dragged the weapon with it into the black abyss. Six had to be careful, who knows if the man in the cage would fire on her. Suddenly she could hear loud smashing noises coming from the cage, Six's curiosity got the better of her. She had to check it out.

As six crept closer to the cage, the image became more clear; a bruised man with very short brown hair wearing a tattered black jumpsuit hitting the hinges of the bars with the butt end of the shotgun, trying to break free. Then six spotted something that was unmistakeable; on his left arm he had an ODST tattoo. Six lowered her DMR and approached the cage at normal pace.

'Need a hand trooper?' she asked with a small trace of joy in her voice. The man stopped what he was doing and looked up at the Spartan with a blank stare. He then returned to what he was doing.

'So you're the Spartan Michael was bragging about capturing' he replied.

Six felt kind of stupid at this point, she did not even introduce herself to the man.

'Lieutenant Jennifer Higgins, Spartan Noble 6 at your service' she said casually. The man did not even look up at her.

'Corporal Jordan Battenfelder, 56th ODST regiment. Proud member of the "Bullfrogs"' he said in a lifeless tone.

She could not deny that something seemed odd about the man, you'd think he would be a bit more excited to see an ally; especially after being imprisoned for who knows how long. Six didn't really care at this point, she was just happy to see anybody from the UNSC.

'Why don't you just shoot off the hinges?' She asked the man. He just let out a deep sigh.

'Because "doc" here wasted all of the shells shooting at you' he replied, almost annoyed. Six was somewhat surprised on the tone of his voice, but she didn't dwell on it for long.

'Stand back Corporal, I still have ammo. I can shoot off the hinges and set you free.' She said assertively. Jordan stopped smashing the gun for a moment and thought. He then looked up at the Spartan.

'You know what? Fine. Spring me out please, you won't regret it' he said eagerly.

Six raised her finger as to inform him she still had something to say.

'Hold on their corporal, before I bust you out I need information' she stated.

'Well I'm not really in the position to turn you down so… yeah go for it' he replied.

'First of all, how did you get captured? And on top of that why are they keeping you caged in the laboratory? It seems odd that they wouldn't have some sort of brig.'

'Well if you must know, I was one of the "lucky" marines that couldn't make it to a frigate on time. You see, my unit stayed behind to defend a farm hold from the covenant. We knew we couldn't hold them off forever, but we still felt obligated to give those farmers even a few more minutes of life. We were surrounded, and we didn't last long. My entire unit accept myself and our rookie private Daniel were overwhelmed. We just simply didn't have the firepower to defend all of the farmers. One by one the covie bastards killed all of the farmers, but we managed to save a little girl. Her name was Maya I think… no wait it was Mary. We escaped the village, but just barely. Both Daniel and I knew we had to get to the pillar of autumn, but the girl was slowing our pace greatly. Daniel told me we had to leave her, but after watching my entire unit and all of those civilians get murdered by the covenant… I just couldn't leave her.'

He paused for a moment, six pondered on what he just said. It was both heart-warming and sad. She had to hear the rest.

'Please continue…' she said, almost saddened by what she just heard.

'I…I can't. Believe me, it's nothing personal, I just don't want to go there. It's personal.' He replied, nearly in tears.

'I understand.' Six uttered.

For a moment, six zoned out. She knew how painful it was to watch civilians die on your watch. But in an instant she snapped out of it.

'So… Why are they keeping you here?' she asked.

'Here? You mean the laboratory? Simple really. I was my squad's tech expert. I did all of the armour and weapon repairs, as well as hack doors, bypass security systems, you know the works. They thought since I know almost everything there is to know about standard issue weapons, I would know how to work your armour. They just don't seem to realise they don't teach grunts like me how to operate machinery above a class four rating, let alone a Spartan suit.'

'So where is my armour then?' Six asked.

'It's being held in the second last locker to your right.' He replied quickly.

Six felt a quick jolt of excitement; she just hoped the rebels didn't tweak it too much while she was out. Jordan brought himself closer to the cage.

'I just have a quick question Spartan; I thought it would be only fair since you got to ask me questions.' Six looked up to him again.

'Make them quick.' She said.

'First off, even if you could kill everyone here, how the hell are you planning on escaping? The entire surface is glassed, a good majority of the covenant fleet is still orbiting the planet, and even if we could send out a signal we couldn't possibly expect a rescue for months, if we can even expect a rescue at all.'

Six hadn't really thought it through. Hell, she barely even knew where they were; let alone how they were to escape. Before she could even reply he continued to speak.

'As much as you may deny it, you'll need me Spartan. I know how to hack their security systems and send out a distress call. Plus, as gung-ho as you no doubt are, you'll need the extra firepower.' Jordan said.

Six remained silent for a few moments. "He's right" she thought. Six raised her DMR.

'Stand clear' she warned.

With two quick bursts the hinges broke free and the cell door collapsed. Jordan immediately leaped out of his cell.

'God it feels good to finally get out of there!' he shouted with glee.

'Calm down now, were not out of the fire by a long shot.' Six said.

Six approached the locker with her armour and shot off the lock. She opened the locker door, and to her delight she saw a familiar sight. Her armour gleamed in the light in almost a god like aura. She was happy to see it again. Next to her armour laid a tattered set of ODST armour, the helmet had an Ace of Spades attached to the side, and on the left shoulder "death to covies" was engraved with a combat knife.

'Nice addition corporal' she smirked.

'What can I say, I like to stand out.' He joked back.

It only took about ten minutes for them both to get suited up. Six reloaded her DMR while Jordan found more shells for the shotgun.

'So what's the plan corporal?' Six asked.

'We need to head back up the stairs, I need to head over to the computer console inside the med bay where they were keeping you, I will turn the automated defense systems against the remaining rebels, send out a distress signal, then prep our stasis pods. All you need to do is keep those bastards off me for a few minutes.' He replied.

'Sounds good, keep in radio contact when we split up. For now I'll take point.' Six replied.

The two soldiers quickly left the laboratory, six up front with Jordan not too far behind her. While walking six got distracted for a moment, "Despite all this, that marine doesn't look half bad" She thought to herself. At least, she thought it was only to herself, she didn't really realise she said that out loud.

'Yeah I know I'm great and all, but we really should take care of business right now' He said jokingly.

Six couldn't believe she just said that, she felt like a fool. But the Spartan quickly regained her resolve and pushed onward. Once they reached the top of the stairs, they were greeted by a small squad of Rebels. Before they could even notice the Spartan and the ODST, they became victims of a hailstorm of shotgun shells and DMR rounds. None of them survived.

"Good job Spartan, now just hold off any more that come, this may take a few minutes.' Jordan said.

Jordan turned at the "T" intersection and went through the door, six bunkered down and prepared for an onslaught.

'Okay, I have gained access to their terminal, but there is a firewall. This may take some time to bypass' Jordan said over the radio.

'Sure thing, just don't take too long, I'm expecting company.' Six replied.

Sure enough, right after she said that a flash bang grenade flew out of a side door down the hall. Six just turned on her Visors tint and sound blocking systems on. When the grenade detonated, three rebels rushed out, expecting to shoot a dazed and blind six. Instead they were met with three clean headshots. There was a ten second delay before one more came rushing out, he met the same fate as his fellows. This hardly made any sense, why would they keep throwing waves of suicidal attacks? It just didn't seem very smart; then again the rebels weren't known for their military strategy. Another man sprang out, but this time he leaped out to the nearest crate. He aimed his Sniper rifle at six, but the Spartan immediately fired on the man. Unfortunately she missed her shot, and the man was able to fire a round off. Six felt a large thud hit her chest. This knocked the wind out of her. Her shields absorbed most of the impact, but she still had to take cover. Her shields would take some time to recover.

'Quickly, she's taking cover! Go go go! ` The sniper barked.

This wasn't good. Any moment six could get overrun, but she would not survive another sniper round if her shields didn't charge fully. Then she remembered, "I have another grenade!" She heard the footsteps on the grating floor, once they got close enough, six hurled the frag grenade over her crate. With a loud bang, the frag exploded, taking out all except her, and the lone sniper.

'For god sake! Just die already!' The Sniper shouted in frustration.

Six saw this frustration as an opportunity; she raised her DMR and pulled the trigger. The gun jammed. "NOT NOW!" She nearly screamed it out loud. She had to go for it. Six leaped over her crate and charged the sniper. He let out another shot, but it missed her by inches. When she got close enough she tossed the DMR at the man, knocking him to the floor. She then punched the man as hard as she could; she felt his bones crunch inward, killing him instantly. Six let out a sigh of relief. Then, her radio sprung to life.

'Spartan! I have rewritten the security systems to kill anyone in the facility that cannot identify themselves as UNSC personnel, I have also sent out a distress signal. Come meet up with me in the med bay before I seal the door.'

'Copy that Corporal…'

'Spartan… Just call me Jordan'

Six felt a bit of joy from the comment, but all in all she was exhausted. She headed back to the med bay and met up with Jordan.

'I have prepped our stasis pods and rewrote all of the non-essential power to running out pods. We have no idea how long we may be in cryo.' He said.

'You did good… for an ODST that is' She commented.

'You did well too… for a genetically altered super warrior that is' he joked back.

Six allowed herself a faint smile.

'Anyways, after you' Jordan said, gesturing her to take her place in her stasis pod. Six Laid In the pod, it was less conferrable than the UNSC issued pods, but she wasn't one to complain. The massive glass frame engulfed the pod; frost skimmed its way up the inside of the glass and on her armour. Then, in an instant, all was black…

2185 CE, Normandy…

'Shepard, we have installed the Reaper IFF, but it will take some time to integrate it with the Normandy, I suggest you take a shuttle to your next destination.' EDI informed the commander.

'Thank you EDI, Inform the crew to meet me in the Cargo bay' Shepard said

'I already have commander…' EDI replied.

Shepard stepped down from the galaxy map with a smirk across his face, everything was going smoothly. All of the dossiers have been recruited successfully, and with their personal issues out of the way all he had to wait for was for Joker and EDI to integrate the IFF. As he was about to walk away, Yeoman Kelly Chambers stopped him.

"Commander, the Illusive Man you like to see you in the debriefing room' she said with her regular upbeat attitude.

"Oh great" Shepard thought to himself, he always hated talking to the Illusive man, It ended in him getting ordered around or sold out every time. He entered the hollow chamber inside the debriefing room; the scanner went up his legs to the top of his torso, providing the Illusive man with a hologram. The Illusive man was not sitting down this time, and he looked determined.

'Shepard, one of my Cells picked up an unknown distress signal from an isolated planet out in the Sentry Omega cluster.'

'Is it Alliance?'

'Like I said, it is unknown. It doesn't match any known signatures. What interests me is the fact that this planet has been deemed uninhabitable; there is no strategic value or any valuable natural resources of any kind. But perhaps the most interesting fact is how long this signal has been up for.'

'Exactly how long are we talking about?' Shepard's curiosity peaked.

'Just over 50,000 years. Shepard, this may be another Prothean beacon, like the one on Eden Prime. It won't be long before others hear about this Shepard, we must get there first.'

'Just send me the coordinates…'

'Already sent'

**All in all this was a great chapter to write, and like I promised, Shepard finally makes an appearance ****. The next chapter may run a little late**, **but it will be worth the wait I promise. Remember, review if you can! I can use all the advice I can get!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Ashes Chapter 4**

**Wow late update, but I think it was worth it. I had a hard time trying to set up the merging of Halo/Mass Effect without resorting to the lame stereotypes like; UNSC pods can last 50,000 years ex.. While its probably not the best set up, i hope you stick with me for the next few chapters, I have some good ideas for the story. So without further ado...**

Reach, January 20th, 2552...

A loud hissing sound filled Six's ears, she awoke with an annoyed groan. She wiped the mist off of her visor lens and looked over to the other stasis pod. Jordan was not in it. She looked around for him, she spotted him at the computer consol, he seemed nervous.

'Whats wrong?' She asked with concern.

Jordan didnt turn to face her.

'The automated defenses are engaging, were under attack!' Jordan rushed.

Six instantly lept from her stasis pod and grabbed her DMR.

'What do you mean? Whos attacking us?' Six asked in a rush.

'Its a small covenant strike team, they must have picked up our signal! We cant stay here any longer.' Jordan stated.

Jordan was typing furiously, he was sweaty. The look on his face made Six realise this was very serious.

'How are the turrets doing?' Six asked.

'They were overwhelmed about three minutes ago.' Jordan replied with concern.

A large bang comensed, the room shaked as if a mini earthquake had just struck.

'Damnit!' Jordan shouted. He quickly put on his helmet and grabbed his shotgun.

'Calm down! Just follow my lead and we will get out of here in one piece.' Six reassured him.

'Even if we can somehow kill all of them what next? We cant keep doing this!' Jordan said.

'They got here somehow didnt they? If we can get to their Phantom we may have a chance of getting out of here.' Six said.

'And do you know how to fly that thing? Thats not somthing they teach us in basic!' Jordan asked.

'I have a basic understanding of Covenant vehicles, this couldnt be much diffrent' Six replied.

Jordan stood silent for a moment.

'Alright. Its a long shot, but damnit at least it is a shot.' Jordan said.

'Then shut up, load your weapon and follow me.' She said assertivley.

Six and Jordan did not hesitate, they both took up breaching positions on diffrent ends of the door. With a quick hiss, the door sprung to life. Six grunts as well as an elite were prowling in the hallway. DMR rounds and shotgun shells flooded the hallway, killing four grunts. The remaining grunts tried to turn and flee, but they were met with headshots. The elite jumped behind a crate, he wasnt going to go down as easily. He pulled out his energy sword, Six let out two DMR rounds, but they did not break his shield. The alien charged at the spartan, Jordan raised his shotgun, but the elite let out a huge backhand hit, launching him into the wall onto the floor. The Elite jumped ontop the spartan, sending her to the ground, her head smacked hard against the grating on the floor. Her helmet absorbed most of the impact, but her head still felt a bit of impact. Her ears began to ring and her vison blured for a moment. When her scenses returned to her she saw the elite on top of her, his sword raised and the closest thing to an evil grin you can see on an elite. He swung his sword at the spartan, she managed to avoid the strike. The sword crackled with energy, it left a heating imptint in the melted grate where it struck. Six would not be able to dodge the aliens fury for long. Six unsheathed her large combat knife and drove it into the beasts leg. It let out a loud roar of pain and anger. Six let out a kick that sent the elite back, she lept to her feet. As the elite struggled to get the knife out of his leg, he was met with a headshot from Six's DMR. Jordan groaned.

'Jesus he was pissed' Jordan moaned.

Six reached out to him, he grabbed her arm as she helped him to his feet.

'If you werent here he might have ruined my whole day' Jordan said

'Come on, we gotta go. More will be comming'

Jordan just nodded then followed Six through the corridor...

2185 CE, Normandy Shuttle...

the sound of howling wind engulfed the shuttle. Shepard had gotten used to it by now, but it was still an unsettling sound. Shepard turned to inspect the team. Garrus was just looking out the window of the shuttle, while Tali sat nervously with her arms crossed. It was odd, she grew up on starships her whole life, has experienced the fires of war countless times, but it was the shuttle rides that alwayse made her nervous. She had noticed Shepard staring at her, she quickly straightened her posture and uncrossed her arms. She disliked the thought that Shepard may think she was scared. A loud ringing sound engulfed the shuttle. Garrus lept from his seat and approached the CPU.

'Shepard, were approaching the anomolly' Garrus said.

'Get ready for touchdown, remember this planet may seem dead, but we werent the only ones to pick up the distress signal. Assume hostiles' Shepard said assertivley.

The shuttle swooped down until it just hovered two feet above the ground.

'Pile out!' Shepard barked.

The shuttle door hissed open, Tali took point with her shotgun followed by Garrus. Shepard was the last to exit the shuttle, his assault rifle in hand. Smoke filled the air, the wind howled, flinging dust in all directions.

'Rally to me!' Shepard ordered. Tali and Garrus formed in around Shepard. Tali's Omni tool flickered to life.

'The signal is clouded, but we are not far.' Tali said.

'move out, the sooner we find this signal the sooner we can leave' Shepard replied.

Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved forward through the mist. It was hard to see even ten feet infront of you. Tali's Omni Tool began to beep.

'This is the dig site Shepard' Tali said

Shepard turned on his personal radio to get ahold of Joker.

'Joker were at the dig site, bring down the mining laser!' Shepard ordered.

'Sure thing Shepard' Joker replied.

'The Normandy will be here in a few minutes, scout the area and make sure its safe to land'

Shepard, Tali and Garrus all spread out in a diffrent direction, weapons at the ready. At any moment something could attack. Nobody has set foot on this planet for thousands of years, who knows what sort of hostile life forms might live here. Scouting on this planet was very difficult, dust storms were a constant thing, and the wind blowing impared your hearing and vision. Tali kept her shotgun ready, she could hear a bit better that the other two because her helmet could filter out sounds. Suddenly she heard a loud crunch. She had stepped on something. She looked down, and in her horror she saw a preserved human skeleton, turned to glass. She had crushed the hand when she stepped on it unknowingly. She instantly stepped back.

'Shepard! Garrus! I...I...Ive found something!' She shouted. She was bearly even able to speak, it was such a shock.

Shepard and Garrus ran over to her as fast as they could, they though that she may have been in danger. They arrived only to see the dead skeleton at her feet.

'My god..' Garrus said in shock.

Shepard knelt down close to it, he wanted to get a better look at the specimen.

'I..I think its human' Shepard said.

'Imposible. The humans have never attempted a colonization of this planet, besides it looks ancient.'

'Shepard, the Illusive man said the signal was over 50,000 years old. There is no way. Your race only learned space travel relitivley recently...'

Shepard just thought to himself for a moment. His personal radio flickered on.

'Joker, tell Mordin to suit up. I have a specimen for him..' Shepard said.

**Wow that was a painfull chapter to write haha :P. I hope you all enjoyed it, sorry if it seemed a little short (especially after being like, 3 months later) I just have been really busy. I experienced major writting block trying to avoid steriotypes. The next few chapters shouldnt take as long to write, I have a bunch of ideas :). Dont worry btw, the other ME characters WILL appear in the story eventually, wont leave anybody out (Even the DLC characters)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Ashes Chapter 5**

**Hey guys :) back for another chapter I suppose lol. Had a lot to do lately, final exams and all. Thanks to everybody who has stuck with me through my painfully late updates :P No, I have not discontinued this fanfic, I just haven't really found much time to write. Credits to Kaimaler for helping this story get back underway. Remember, negative reviews are better than no reviews at all :)**

2185CE, Uncharted Planet...

"Batarian? No, physiology is all wrong. Quarian? No no, too many appendages. There is only one biological match Shepard... The specimen is in fact, human" Mordin was fascinated by the corpse; he could not keep his eyes off of it.

"Impossible, the humans were still primitive mammals 50,000 years ago, how would a human skeleton that old wind up on an uncharted planet nearly 100 thousand light years away from earth?" Garrus added.

"Are you sure it's not just a mammal similar to a human Mordin?" Tali asked.

"Positive at this point. Will need further testing, but as of now I am positive" Mordin replied

Shepard paced restlessly. This body alone was quite the find, who knows what else this place had in store. As fascinating as the body was, they still had a mission to complete.

"Mordin, you are clear to transport the specimen onto the Normandy, the rest of you, we still have a job to do" Shepard boldly said. They all nodded in approval. Shepard's radio hissed to life.

"Grunt here, were dug in. Meet us by the dig site Shepard" He said in his deep voice.

"Roger that Grunt, make sure the team is ready to descend when we get back"

Shepard and co braved through the violent dust storm, holding their hands in front of their faces to fend off the howling sand. Tali took point because her helmet gave her the most visibility. She had her massive claymore shotgun at hand, ready to blast anything hostile that may emerge from the storm.

"All clear Shepard" Tali assured him.

Through the storm a duo of figures became visible. It would seem Grunt and Kasumi were waiting for them.

"Well it's about time Shep, what happened, you take a coffee break or something?" Kasumi said in her usual upbeat attitude. Shepard just grinned in response.

"Not really, Garrus just needed to stop for his usual 'Turian tea time'" Shepard joked back.

This sparked a minor reaction from Garrus, lightly punching Shepard in the arm. Suddenly Shepard's radio flickered to life; on the other end was a familiar voice.

"Shepard, Miranda here. We've dug down to the signal with the mining laser; take your team into the carts set up there. The carts will bring you down to the signal, meanwhile Legion, Mordin and myself will get that specimen you found on to the Normandy."

"Roger that Miranda, Shepard out." Shepard quickly replied.

Shepard approached the dig site, it would seem that the mining laser drilled a hole in the ground at about a 60 degree angle. There were only two carts, they were both about the size of a living room sofa.

"How are we even supposed to fit in those?" Garrus protested. Grunt approached him and gave him a smack on the back, nearly flooring him.

"Don't you worry your squishy turian head, you're ridin' with me!" Grunt proclaimed. Garrus' face lit up in horror.

"Me? Share a cart with you? I doubt I'll even have room to breathe" Garrus replied.

Shepard just smirked.

"It has been decided, Grunt and Garrus are ride along buddies!" Shepard teased.

Garrus shot the most evil look Shepard had ever seen.

"I won't forget this Shepard." Garrus said angrily.

"Alright people, pile in!" Shepard ordered.

Grunt and Garrus crammed into the back cart (Grunt taking up nearly the whole thing), while Shepard, Tali and Kasumi took the front cart. Tali pushed a series of controls on the cart, with that both carts slowly began to descend. It was crammed in those carts, it would seem that Garrus was struggling to breathe. Tali made sure she gave Shepard plenty of space, she was embarrassed. She had always had feeling for Shepard, but she never really had the nerve to act on those feelings. Just being this close made her extremely nervous. Kasumi looked over at Tali, who spaced herself as far from Shepard as she could in the small cart. Kasumi just grinned and gave her a slight shove, sending her towards Shepard. Her arm grazed his, and at the moment of impact, she instantly retracted. You couldn't see it under the helmet, but she was obviously blushing. Shepard just turned his head towards Tali and let out a shit eating grin.

"Well hello there Tali" He said to her.

Tali could barely speak, she wasn't expecting this.

"Uhh...umm... h..he..hello Shepard" She mumbled out. She just crossed her arms and turned away.

Shepard found this to be extremely cute, one minute she could be a stone cold killer, the next she could be incredibly bashful.

Suddenly, the lights faded. They were getting deep...

Planet Reach...

Six rushed up the ramp and took cover behind a large metal box. She quickly dipped her head out to get a view. There it was. The Covenant drop ship laid there, ready for the taking. It was in the middle of a large landing bay, with a large tunnel leading to the surface. She would need to be careful not to alert the covenant, or they may just fly out, then she would have no ride off this planet. She raised her DMR rifle to scope out the area. The landing pad was guarded by a mixture of three dozen grunt and jackals, led by three elite. No question the ship was incredibly well defended. There is no way she could possibly beat them all by just rushing in, and even if she could hold her own against such a group one may slip past her and take the ship. She would need to execute this plan perfectly, one mistake and there's no way off of this planet. She opened up her wrist computer and activated her personal radio.

"Are you in position Corporal?" She asked.

"Gimme a sec Spartan, almost ready" he replied.

Jordan was down on the other end of the landing bay, in cover behind a large support beam, shotgun in hand.

"Alright, I'm in position, ready to go" Jordan said over the radio.

"Alright corporal, let's get started"

Jordan proned around the support along a stockpile of crates. He was cautious not to draw too much covenant attention, but he had to get close enough to get a decent view of the phantom.

"Lieutenant, can you give me a good idea of how many of these sons a bitches there are?" Jordan asked over his radio, quietly enough not to draw enemy attention.

"A few dozen grunts, accompanied by a smaller group or about ten jackals. There seems to be three elites leading the group, one of them appears to be a Zealot so be careful of an energy sword." Six replied.

"So why am I down here? aren't you the genetically altered super killer?" Jordan said back.

"Relax corporal, I'm in a great Sniping position, I won't let them flank you unless you piss me off" Six said sarcastically.

"Ha. That's a good one, but seriously. If you don't mind I would like my flanks clear."

"I've got your back Jordan, don't worry. Now, let's get this thing underway." Six said.

"Right" Jordan said abruptly_. _

Six took a deep breath and readied her scope. It was show time. Six had her eyes on a lone grunt that had straggled from the group, a perfect first victim. A quick pull of the trigger finger dropped the little beast. His death attracted the attention of his comrades, who quickly rushed to the scene. One of the Elites spotted Six's sniping position and began to open fire. Perfect. While the covenant were busy shooting at her, Jordan could approach the Phantom will little resistance. Balls of plasma whipped by six, but she was dug in good. It would take the most accurate (or lucky) shot to get a good hit on her. The Covenant on the other hand, were right out in the open, and were easy targets to Six's DMR fire. One by one grunts and Jackals fell; It was a kill-zone.

Meanwhile Jordan made his way closer to the Phantom behind the crates. The majority of the covenant landing forces were distracted by Six, so he faced little resistance. Jordan was ten feet away when a Grunt jumped out of nowhere. In an instant, Jordan dropped him with a shotgun blast to the chest. The shotgun was not the most silenced of weapons, and it attracted more Covenant attention. About a quarter of the Covenant in Six's kill-zone shifted to face Jordan. This wasn't good, Jordan would be overwhelmed. Six jumped from her position on to the landing bay with fire in her eyes. Like a woman possessed, she killed every covenant unfortunate enough to enter her line of sight. In particular, an Elite Zealot with a sword in hand noticed Six's ferocity and charged to meet her. This elite swung wildly at six, but she was able to dodge every swing and thrust. Frustrated, the elite took a powerful overhand swing. Six grinned, and with lightning fast precision, she grabbed the elites arm, stopping the sword in the air. While the elite was strong, Six's strength far exceeded the alien. She raised her DMR with her free hand, placed it against his chest and fired. A DMR round to his heart was more than enough to bring down the powerful alien. Six quickly holstered her DMR and grabbed the elite's energy sword, now things would get interesting.

Six cut her way through the Covenant like a blowtorch through butter. Every hack, slash and thrust took down a grunt, jackal or elite. Plasma rounds smacked against her shields, but she didn't slow down. The last grunt in her path saw the carnage this one Spartan was able to wreak, and began to run for its life. Six gave a diabolical grin before tossing the sword at the grunt, sticking it into its back and killing the thing.

Six looked over at Jordan, who has seemed to rack up a body count of his own. Ten covenant bodies surrounded him, shotgun smoking.

"I see the Covenant didn't bring you down" Six pointed out.

"With all due respect Spartan, you shouldn't underestimate the ODST" Jordan replied with a grin.

Six nodded. "Now let's get off this rock".

Six and Jordan left the piles of covenant dead behind them and entered the Phantom, ready to leave Reach…

**Well there you go, another chapter finally got through. The next chapters shouldn't take as long I promise :P The main reason this chapter took so long was a combination of RL distractions and writer's block. So don't worry, I have not abandoned this fic ****J**** Reviews would be appreciated **


	6. Chapter 6

**Ashes Chapter 6**

**Back for another chapter; ****WARNING****: This chapter may get a bit confusing at times, but trust me when I say it is vital for setting up the crossover, be patient! It will begin to fall together in a few chapters :P I would appreciate any feedback this chapter, positive OR negative. There have been a few minor errors throughout the fic thus far; I will try my best to rectify these mistakes. One of the biggest criticisms about Ashes so far was about Six's character, how she is 'too emotional'. I will try and write her better, but I hate writing people with no personality, so forgive me if she still cracks a joke or two :P Remember, this is my first attempt at writing in general, so constructive criticism would help greatly. Tell me what you like/dislike about the story so I can improve as the story moves along. Also a little confusion, I messed up in the story info labeling Shepard as (F), Shepard is MALE in this story. Anyways enough ranting, on to chapter 6…**

* * *

All was dark. The tunnel just went on and on into complete and utter darkness. Shepard was curious about what they were about to discover, the glassed human corpse on the surface was big; perhaps one of the greatest finds of the century. What was in store for Shepard and his crew? More incredible finds no doubt, but what? More bodies? Lost technology? The possibilities were endless, but more importantly; who sent out the distress call? Shepard couldn't help but wonder if this was an old Prothean beacon, but then why were there glassed human remains? On top of that, how could any sort of beacon last ten thousand years? Either way, he was about to find out, one way or another.

The darkness grew until it became impossible to see his hand in front of face. Shepard reached for the flashlight in his helmet, but his hand could not seem to find its mark. After a few moments of fidgeting he finally heard a click and his flashlight sprung to life. It was pitch black, making his cone of light the only thing visible. The others silently took note and activated their flashlights. Five cones of light made the narrow tunnel generally well lit, though it wasn't much of a sight to behold, it was empty and bore no incredible architecture.

In the midst of this darkness, Shepard's radio flickered to life. "Shepa... is Joker. You are ge… deep, around… sand feet down." The radio began to break up, not a surprise considering how far underground they were. He predicted this before entering the tunnels, it just didn't concern him.

"More ships have been spotted in… atmosphere, the rest of… team will guard the dig site. Mordin Insists to… ay in his lab. He wants to examine the body…ound" It was hard to make out, but Shepard understood the gist of what he was trying to say.

"Roger that Joker, with the team guarding the dig site we should have no trouble. Take the Normandy up and finish with the Reaper IFF, we'll rendezvous once we've finished down here." Shepard ordered.

"… oger that Sh… " The radio turned to complete static.

Shepard sighed, Joker said that there were more ships in orbit. The Illusive man warned Shepard that others have picked up the signal, for all he knew salvagers or pirates could be honing in on the dig site. If that was the case, Miranda and the rest of his team would keep them at bay, but Shepard and his dig-team had to move fast.

Shepard cleared his throat to gain the attention of his crew. "We're gonna' have company people, multiple ships have been spotted in the vicinity. The rest of the team is guarding the dig site, but we have to work fast." Shepard announced. Nobody spoke up in reply, but they all nodded in approval.

He was weary; he knew that if the ships were in fact pirates or salvagers, they would use force to break past Shepard's team and claim the dig site and all of its finds. Shepard knew his team could hold them at bay, but he was not willing to risk a team member getting shot right before they flung themselves at the collector home world. This would have to be a quick mission, in and out as fast as they are able.

Suddenly, the carts came to a halt. They finally reached the bottom. With a quick hiss, the cart doors hissed open, Tali and Kasumi piled out without missing a beat. Garrus was a little slower trying to wedge his way out, Grunt had him pinned against the railing. After a few moments of this struggle, Garrus sprung free.

"Spirits, it's about time!" Garrus said, hands clenched to his gut as he gasped for air. Grunt just huffed and shoved his way passed the winded Turian.

Shepard just gave a slight chuckle before moving on. He turned forward, his cone of light was filled with dust, making it hard to see, but it was his only source of light through the overwhelming darkness. Up ahead was a hallway, surprisingly the walls were lined with pipes.

Shepard took point, raising his hand and giving the signal for his squad to follow, their compliance was in the footsteps he heard approach his back. The hallway seemed to have no end, the flashlights only lit so far; it was impossible to tell how far this tunnel could take them.

The team trekked on until they came to a strange looking door. It was mostly metallic, it looked heavy duty. It was cracked open just enough to sneak a peak in to the next room, but the opening was not big enough to fit through.

He searched around them, but it didn't take long for him to spot a strange looking control panel lined the wall next to the door, though many of the lights on the panel were out. Hell, there was no way of knowing if this door would even work. Shepard turned to face Kasumi.

"Kasumi, do you think you can get through this door?" Shepard asked then almost regretted asking, the door was ten-thousand years old after all.

Kasumi just chuckled. "Shep, I'm good, but I don't think I can hack ten-thousand year old technology" Kasumi replied in a sarcastic tone. It's not like Shepard expected anything different, It was a stupid thing to ask of her anyways.

Garrus gave a quizzical look.

"Maybe we should get some explosives down here and blow the door open." The Turian added.

Tali was quick to point out the flaws in Garrus' logic. "If we set of an explosion in a ten-thousand year old facility, the entire place may come crashing down. We have no way of knowing how stable this place actually is." She countered the Turians' idea.

Shepard was just about to express his opinion when a loud roar interrupted his chain of thought. Before he could even react, a loud smash could be heard coming from the door. Shepard and his team were baffled at what they saw; it would seem Grunt smashed his way through the door. The steel of the door bent inward, collapsing under the strength of the massive Krogan. Grunt just turned his head and scoffed.

"You aliens are way too soft…" He said with a growl.

The team just stood there in awe of Grunts raw strength. '_Well it's a good thing he's on the team'._ Shepard thought to himself.

"Well that was... unexpected, but I'll take what I can get." Shepard said, still slightly in disbelief.

Shepard was the first to follow Grunt through the door, the rest of the team quickly followed. They found themselves in a rather large room, with metal grating lining the floors. Several old lockers filled the walls, as well as multiple consoles and controls. Shepard turned towards his team.

"Get these lockers open and see what you can find." His order was to no particular person.

The team split up in different directions, each taking their own locker to dump out. Shepard approached a rather rusted old locker, with an old style lock still holding it shut. This lock was worn out and weak, it wouldn't take much to break it. Shepard reached behind his back and pulled out his assault rifle. It only took one smack to the lock with the butt end of his rifle to break it off. The door made the worst sort of noise when Shepard went to open it, it was worse than a fork being scraped against an old style chalkboard. Ten thousand years of rust and decay wasn't exactly going to make the most pleasant of sounds. Dust shot out of the locker, forcing a violent cough from Shepard as his lungs filled up. He used his free hand to swipe away most of the dust, clearing his vision. Inside of the locker was a very old and ratty looking jumpsuit, upon closer inspection it would appear to belong to some sort of medical personnel. Shepard rifled through the pockets, only to find a small card. Shepard examined the small card; it had a picture of a man with short brown hair and thick glasses, followed by a small Bio:

_Name: Dr. Michael Zimmer_

_Age: 34_

_Position: Chief of Medical Staff._

Shepard was surprised to see that this ten-thousand year old card had a picture of a fairly modern looking man, and it was written in English. This was impossible, yet he was holding proof right in his hand. A voice could be heard from behind him.

"Shepard, I've found something I think you should take a look at." Garrus brought to his attention.

Shepard turned to see Garrus holding an object. It would appear to be a chrome metallic weapon, like an exotic looking gun of some sort.

"I found it in one of the lockers. It looks like some sort of pistol. On top of that, it seems to be magazine fed, there are no slots for a Thermal clip." Garrus added with a hint of confusion in his voice. This was odd; the weapon appeared to fire traditional ammunition.

"Keep it with you Garrus. We should probably move on… Kasumi, how far are we from the distress signal?" Shepard asked.

Kasumi's Omni-tool lit up around her forearm. "We're getting close Shep, the source of the signal should be just down the next hallway in another room."

Shepard nodded. "We don't have a lot of time to waste; let's get to that distress signal"

Miranda took another breath from her re-breather, a quick burst of oxygen filling her lungs. She quickly pulled out her Phalanx M-5 pistol, they were going to have company.

Sand blew in literally every direction making it extremely hard to see oncoming hostiles; she would need to keep on her toes. She had ordered the team to entrench around the dig-site in defensive positions, covering all angles. A slight shiver made its way down her spine, for being in a desert mid-day, this planet was surprisingly cold. She felt a hand rest against her shoulder, it was Jacob.

"Legion has picked up movement coming straight at us, southeast from here. Orders Miranda?" Jacob asked.

Miranda sighed; she had hoped Shepard's team would be done in the ruins before more teams showed up to investigate. She turned to face Jacob.

"That complicates things, without radio contact we have no way of knowing how much longer Shepard will be. Don't open fire until we know their intentions, but keep them from the dig site at all costs." Miranda ordered.

Jacob nodded in approval and walked back to his position. Miranda followed him to the rest of the team, all bunkered down in case of an impending firefight. Legion approached Miranda.

"Multiple heat signatures approaching our position" He mumbled in his robotic voice.

She gazed into the distance, seeing multiple Humanoid silhouette figures approaching the dig site, as predicted. They were numerous, outnumbering the team at least 3-1. They looked armed, and in combat formation. Whether they would give up without violence was unknown, but highly unlikely.

"Hurry Shepard…" Miranda mumbled to herself.

The Phantom soared through the seemingly unending tunnel to the surface. Six could taste freedom, finally after god knows how long. This thing flew smoother than most UNSC vehicles, with a pelican or hornet turbulence was a constant factor. With this covenant vehicle you could barely tell you were in the air at all. The cockpit was quite roomy, about six times larger than the cockpit in a pelican drop ship. Multiple flashing lights lined the walls and control panel, and strange hieroglyphs showed up on the ships HUD, each representing different languages for each covenant race. Six understood most of them, but there was the odd word she couldn't quite make out.

Jordan made his way up into the cockpit and placed his hand on six's shoulder. He seemed quite nervous, understandable. He has probably never been inside a covenant vehicle before.

"Spartan? I… I think we're going to have company." Jordan informed her.

A bright blue light began to flash on a screen, with two smaller red dots slowly getting closer. Sure enough, Jordan was right. Two Banshees were hot on their tail. There must have been covenant in the base that they missed. By the looks of it they are not happy with Six hijacking their Phantom. The tunnel was narrow, it could just barely fit the Phantom, but two banshees would have no trouble moving around. Suddenly, a small green light shot from one of the red dots, and approached the Phantom at an alarming rate. There was no room to dodge in this phantom, they were sitting ducks.

"Hold on corporal!" Six warned Jordan. There was no question they were getting hit.

Jordan caught on quick and grabbed hold of the nearest solid object, hoping he could keep himself upright after impact. Then, in an instant, a loud bang could be heard. The Phantom shook after impact, jolting six forward a bit and sending Jordan to the ground. Six quickly recovered, instantly checking one of the screens.

"Shields still holding up, roughly 75%" Six said with a hint of relief. It would seem that they would need to hit them way harder if they were going to fry the shields, let alone shoot them down.

Jordan slowly got to his feet, brushing off the mild pain.

"Well that wasn't so bad, guess the covies know how to build their ships." Jordan stated.

Then, like a sort of beacon of hope, light began to fill the tunnel. They were almost out. The Banshees were still hot on their tail, firing their primary weapons in an attempt to halt their escape. It was doing mediocre damage at best. Six blasted the afterburners, sending the Phantom shooting out of the tunnel at increased speed. Finally, she was above the surface again. A sense of satisfaction rushed through Six, she let out a quick sigh of relief. In an instant she regained her composure, they weren't out of this. Not by a long shot. The Phantom shot into the sky, the pair of banshees in close pursuit. Another green light shot from the second red dot, but this time Six had room to move. Right before the moment of impact, Six swerved to the left, dodging the shot by the skin of her teeth.

"Corporal! Man the main gun and shoot these bastards!" Six ordered Jordan.

Jordan just gave her a daft look.

"You do realize I have no idea how to operate this thing right? I'm a tech expert for the UNSC, so I only know how to work UNSC equipment!"

"Figure it out! It's better than us getting shot down!" Six said, obviously frustrated.

"Good point." Jordan replied, a frown etched on this face.

Jordan left the cockpit and made his way to the main gun controls. There were commands on the computer screen, but Jordan had no idea what any of it meant. He gently grasped what looked like the targeting systems. It almost felt like he had to handle this weapon gingerly, like he would break it if he pressed the wrong button. A bead of sweat ran down Jordan's neck, he better learn this fast.

Back up in the cockpit Six was trying her best to avoid taking any more damage from the Banshees. Shields read at fifty-five percent and declining with every hit.

Jordan better get their weapons online, if they couldn't get them off of their tail, they may not even make it into the atmosphere. Six took a quick glance back at her radar, two more green dots crept up to they're position. Six grunted as she banked left as hard as she could, in an attempt to dodge the banshee bombs. Unfortunately she was unsuccessful with dodging the second shot. The Phantom shook up like a miniature earthquake as Six jolted forward. Pain shot through Six's neck, she took a moment to recover. Shields were still holding up, but only at 37%.

_'Goddammit corporal, get those weapons online!'_

Six thought to herself. They would not survive much more punishment…

**Well there you go, another chapter This chapter was a bit longer than chapter 5, but chapter 7 should be even longer Thank you guys for sticking with this fic through my long update periods. Reviews would be nice, bad or good Credits to Kaimaler for beta reading.**


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